The Supreme Court of Ohio & The Ohio Judicial System

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Nov. 17, 1999
The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson

by Justice Paul E. Pfeifer

The impending
end of the century has produced, among other things, an abundance of "best of"
lists. The best 100 movies of the century, the top 100 novels, the most important
inventions, and so forth. ESPN, the cable sports network, has garnered its share of
attention with a "Top 50 Athletes of the Twentieth Century" countdown.

Number fifteen on the list was
Jackie Robinson. Jackie was an infielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers for a decade. Whether he
would have been selected among the best athletes of the century for his baseball career
alone is one of those debates that make sports  and top-50 lists  fun.

Robinson was an undeniably great
player who had some of his best years stolen from him. He was a speedster who led his team
to six World Series, won Rookie of the Year honors, an MVP award and was a six-time
All-Star.

But its not because of his
marvelous career that Jackies number 42 is retired in every major league ballpark.
Its because on a chilly afternoon in 1947 at Ebbets Field, Robinson took the diamond
for the Dodgers to become the first black man to play in a major league baseball game in
the modern era.

His stellar play  and
moreover, his poise under fire  paved the way for baseball integration. As barriers
broke down in baseball, so too did they begin to crumble in society at large. And while
Jackie is best remembered for integrating major league baseball, an incident that occurred
before his fame as a Dodger heralded his future as a warrior in the battle for civil
rights.

Robinson was born into poverty in
rural Georgia, but the family moved to Pasadena, California while he was still very young.
Jackies athletic prowess was no fluke. His brother, Mack, finished second in the
200-meter dash at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The only man to finish ahead of him was Jesse
Owens.

As a youngster, Jackie was a
natural. He became a star running back for the UCLA football team, and a standout on the
Bruins basketball and track teams. Ironically, although he became the first UCLA student
to ever letter in four sports in the same season, baseball was his worst college sport.

These days, an athlete of
Robinsons caliber would have millions thrown at him by every major league. But for
Robinson, there was no sports future -- professional football, baseball and basketball
were off limits to blacks.

Shortly after his college days,
America entered World War II, and Jackie was drafted. In the Army, as in most of America
at the time, blacks suffered the indignation of segregation. Jim Crow laws  the name
given to the laws that created whites only restaurants, hotels, restrooms and other
segregation  held sway in the Army, too.

Jim Crow rules called for white
officers to lead black men in their segregated outfits. But the necessities of war were
beginning to change things. Jackie was accepted to an integrated Officer Candidate School
and assigned to Camp Hood, in Texas. It was there that he became entangled in an incident
that nearly ended his military career and the future that he didnt know awaited him.

One evening, while boarding a camp
bus into town, he dutifully began moving to the back, as blacks were required to do. On
his way down the aisle, he saw the wife of a friend sitting mid-way back, and sat down
with her.

After about five blocks, the
driver, a white man, turned in his seat and ordered Jackie to move to the back of the bus.
Robinson refused. The driver threatened to make trouble for him when the bus reached the
station, but Jackie wouldnt budge.

The exchanges between Robinson and
the driver grew more heated. When the bus reached the station, another passenger, a white
woman, told Jackie that she intended to press charges against him. Someone called the
MPs, and during the process of sorting out the bus incident, Jackie was treated
rudely and was called a "nigger" by both the military personnel and civilians
involved. Unbelievably, Jackie was arrested and faced a court martial.

The case against him, The United
States v. 2nd Lieutenant Jack R. Robinson, was heard by nine men  one
was black  with six votes needed for acquittal. By the time of the hearing, the
charges against Robinson were all for his alleged misbehavior at the station 
after the incident on the bus.

He was accused of disrespect to a
superior officer, and of disobeying orders. Most of the witnesses testimony ran
counter to Robinsons account of events, but inconsistencies appeared in their
stories under cross-examination.

The defense called a series of
character witnesses. All of Jackies superior officers, who were white, testified
that in their unit, Robinson was "held in high regard." Jackies colonel
testified that he would be satisfied going into combat with Robinson under him.

Jackie himself took the witness
stand, and offered an inspired explanation of his angry reaction at being called a nigger.
"My grandmother was a slave. She told me a nigger was a low, uncouth person, and
pertains to no one in particular; but I dont consider that I am low and uncouth. I
am a Negro, but not a nigger."

In summing up, the defense insisted
to the panel that the case involved no violations as charged, but was "simply a
situation in which a few individuals sought to vent their bigotry on a Negro they
considered uppity because he had the audacity to seek to exercise rights that
belonged to him as an American and as a soldier."

Jackie
got the necessary votes for acquittal, and was found "not guilty of all
specifications and charges." He had stood up against the humiliating and unjust Jim
Crow laws and won.

Only a few years later, he would
step onto a baseball field in Brooklyn and strike an even bigger blow for equality,
earning more than just a place among the greatest athletes of the century.